The White House said on Friday that mass layoffs of federal employees have begun, marking one of the most dramatic escalations yet in the government shutdown that has paralysed Washington for 10 days.
Russ Vought, director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), confirmed the move on X, writing that “the RIFs have begun,” referring to reduction-in-force plans that will eliminate thousands of jobs across multiple agencies.
An OMB spokesperson described the layoffs as “substantial” but declined to give an exact figure. Court filings later revealed plans to dismiss at least 4,100 federal employees during the ongoing shutdown.
Education, health, and treasury hit hardest
The filings, submitted to a federal court in California in response to a union lawsuit, offered the first detailed breakdown of the reductions.
Stephen Billy, a senior adviser at OMB, said notices went out to 315 employees at Commerce, 466 at Education, 187 at Energy, 20–30 at the Environmental Protection Agency, 1,100–1,200 at Health and Human Services, 442 at Housing and Urban Development, 176 at Homeland Security, and 1,446 at the Treasury Department — totaling between 4,152 and 4,262 positions.
Billy said some agencies “are actively considering whether to conduct additional layoffs,” while others are still assessing “offices and subdivisions that may be considered for potential RIFs.”
Unions, Congress blast ‘illegal, political’ firings
Federal employee unions called the layoffs “illegal” and politically motivated.
“It is disgraceful that the Trump administration has used the government shutdown as an excuse to illegally fire thousands of workers who provide critical services,” said Everett Kelley, president of the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE), which filed the lawsuit.
Democrats accused the White House of weaponising the shutdown to advance partisan goals.
“Let’s be blunt: Nobody’s forcing Trump and Vought to do this,” said Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer. “They’re callously choosing to hurt people — the workers who protect our country, inspect our food, respond when disasters strike. This is deliberate chaos.”
Some Republicans also voiced concern, with Senator Susan Collins, chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, saying she “strongly opposed” Vought’s decision to lay off furloughed employees.
The White House defended the move as “lawful, necessary, and fiscally prudent,” saying it would pressure Democrats to back a temporary spending bill extending government funding through November 21.
Judge Susan Illston, who is overseeing the union’s lawsuit in California, is expected to rule within days on whether to halt the layoffs — a decision that could determine whether the shutdown drags into a third week.
